If you’re like us, living up here in the Northeast, you grew up looking forward to wintertime! As a child, maybe you looked forward to snowball fights, snow castles, and a nice break from school. However, as adults, the view of winter may be a little different.
Save Yourself Some Winter Work
As homeowners, we deal with wintertime home care, essential cold-weather maintenance, and of course, snow removal. Here’s where modern tech can really help us make life easier and safer!
Heated driveways are an excellent resource for homeowners to save hundreds of hours removing snow and add a huge margin of safety with the prevention of ice build-up.
What is a Heated Driveway?
Exactly what they sound like! Snow and ice are greeted with a heated surface that helps prevents snow accumulation. Though it may seem like a luxury to some, the elimination of shoveling, icing, falling, and salt damage is well worth the investment.
After installation, the heating elements are typically wired to a junction box. For those with a whole home generator, it’s safer to have the system wired to the generator. This way, after the worst winter storm and power knockouts, your driveway will be just as safe, warm, and protected as your home.
The Risks of Snow Shoveling
More than ever, people are concerned about safety and health. Falls become costly as we advance in age, and what was once a minor annoyance becomes a serious health concern or a hospital trip.
A study published in 2017 showed a significant amount of heart attacks over a 30-year period were directly linked to exertion after a substantial snow fall. If you or someone in your family is in a fall or cardiovascular risk category, it may be wise to consider a heated driveway. By eliminating snow shoveling, you are also eliminating the risk of hip fractures, hypothermia, and heart attacks.
How to Install a Heated Driveway
Heated driveways may be a simple concept, but installation does take a fair amount of experience and the right set of tools. Many driveway companies and some landscapers are qualified and can be hired for the installation. Usually, a fresh concrete pour is needed, but if you have an asphalt driveway then you’re in luck! Repaving asphalt can be cheaper and the heating system installed at the same time. The cheapest installation is for driveways made up of brick pavers.
Connecting to Your Generator For Convenience & Safety
Whether you have a heated driveway on the list of future home improvements, or already have one installed, it’s one of the many great things that you can make sure is safely and securely connected to emergency generator power.
Our Generac whole home generators are more than up to the task, and our experts can set up the connections you need to keep the driveway warm and safe. Get in touch with us to discuss the best setup for your home and property!
Home energy efficiency is important. And efficiency is key, particularly in the case of a power outage.
You may already have a whole home generator installed, and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with it. Additionally, there are some improvements in routing emergency generator power that are worth looking into.
Let’s talk about a simple modification to your transfer switches that can save stress and headaches, provide efficient power and convenience when you need it.
What are Transfer Switches?
Essentially, a transfer switch switches electricity between two different sources. The NEC (National Electric Code) requires that generators have a properly installed transfer switch. Power can be instantly switched to your generator, resulting in a quick and reliable transfer of power.
A qualified electrician or electrical contractor service can handle these modifications for you. The less your family is affected by a sudden power outage, the better!
Beware of Vampire… Electronics?
Vampire electronics are devices and appliances that drain energy even when they are not in use, or even while switched off! Certain computers, printers, furnaces, TV’s, or even the microwave can drain power while not in use. It’s best to disconnect these electronics during a power outage, but it’s also easy to forget!
A simple modification by a qualified professional electrician can reduce or eliminate these drains when power is needed the most – By determining sources of power drain -including vampire electronics- wiring your home generator to power only the circuits you choose, there is less waste, more savings, and full peace of mind.
Prioritize You!
By ensuring that only priority rooms are given energy in an emergency, you’re choosing to prioritize who and what matters most.
Generac whole home generators are an excellent way to stay comfortable and safe during power outages. This simple modification can give you even more assurance that your family will be cared for when disaster strikes.
Like many of our valued customers, you may be looking for a whole home electrical generator for a second home in Connecticut. Or, you may be moving from the New York metropolitan, and are wondering about how the difference in Connecticut’s weather may impact your new property.
Not only is this a good idea for personal convenience, it is also necessary to ensure a high level safety for your family and to protect your valuable investment.
Prepare Now, Avoid a Disaster Later
By now, we are well into the hurricane season, and we can tell you from professional experience that recent major storms passing through Connecticut have caused plenty of property damage and dangerous electrical failures. When a home is left unattended, and without power, this can have an exponential effect on the damage done to home systems.
For example, if heating is knocked out in the winter time, essential water pipes may burst if not heated properly. Assuming the power comes back on and the home is still vacant, the home may continue to feed water from the well, filling the kitchen, bathroom, or entire basements with water, causing severe water damage. If the water in a home well runs out, the pump may continue to run on empty, and burn itself out, requiring a costly replacement or repair.
We’ve heard reports of some customers that live on hard to reach ledges, and the heavy equipment needed to perform the repairs cost thousands of dollars to position correctly in order to repair the damage. All for the lack of having a properly maintained generator that could dynamically regulate power to protect their home.
Advanced Whole Home Generators Keep You Safe
Our advanced home generators are much more than simple backup power. Cutting edge technology in each unit provides a smart solution to brownouts, blackouts, and power surges, turning the unit on and off automatically, and even sending you a notification about potential issues. These units also perform their own basic maintenance, testing themselves regularly for quality and efficiency.
We also offer a full range of convenient in-person maintenance services to ensure that your equipment is always in top shape, and ready to protect your home and investment, giving you peace of mind.
Learn More Today
Want to learn more? Get the protection you need, and the experience you deserve. Contact us today before the winter season makes it harder to install protection for your home, or second property.
We will work with you to determine your options, and provide the best solution for your specific installation.
Here in the Northeast, you may have noticed that the approaching winter cold has already set in. What does this mean for your home activities?
Obviously, travel for winter vacation is limited for many folks this year, so while you might not be making it to the islands this season, you may be enjoying an extended home vacation (or stay-cation!) It’s a great time to curl up indoors with your favorite hot drink by the fire. Outdoor activities aren’t off the table yet, though! Now is a great time to enhance your hot tub experience.
Hello Hot Tub, Goodbye Stress
It’s no secret that stress is bad for us. And who hasn’t had their fair share of stress this year? A hot tub is one of the most relaxing and stress-relieving activities that you can enjoy at home, even every night!
We tend to carry stress in our back and shoulders. After a long day, perhaps slumped over at a computer, the hot tub is a great way to ease those tired muscles and recharge. It also promotes a better night’s sleep, making the stress-relief last well into the next day!
Enhancing The Experience
While a hot tub is great all by itself, there are some improvements that help make the experience truly wonderful.
Lighting: Appropriate lighting over and around the hot tub helps to put you in a better state of mind and fully enjoy the experience. If your tub is situated in a backyard structure, garden lights or overhead outdoor lights are a great addition. Because of their proximity to water and exposure to elements, it’s important to choose these lights carefully and have them professionally installed for the best results.
Music: The sound of bubbling water is calming already. But the right music can enhance the ambiance while you soak, providing relaxing sounds or soothing melodies. You don’t have to lug the stereo back and forth every night to enjoy music by the hot tub: Outdoor speakers can be cleverly placed throughout your backyard or outdoor structures.
Towel Warmer: This handy device helps address the only negative thing about Hot Tubs: Getting out! Especially in the winter months, stepping out of your hot tub and wrapping yourself in a freezing cold towel isn’t fun. A towel warmer helps put the finishing touch on a wonderful evening in the hot tub, letting you wrap yourself in a comfy, toasty towel as you get out.
Bring The Family Together
A hot tub helps your family to relax, and can help bring everyone together, quite literally!
Sitting opposite each other in a relaxing setting helps to stimulate conversation. Children and teens may feel more open to talking and expressing their minds.
In short, a good hot tub can improve the quality of life that your family enjoys together.
Expert Hot Tub Help
If you’re ready to step up your hot tub game, we’re here to help!
We have decades of experience running all the wires for everything you need: The tub itself, lighting, outdoor speakers and entertainment, and more.
We also are experts in installation of the safety features that every permit-ready hot tub needs to have, like properly grounded electrical outlets and service disconnect switches and timers.
If you have questions, we’ve got answers! Get in touch to learn more about all our certified services, and what we can do for your home and family.
We’ve considered the importance of having a reliable whole home generator for your house in CT, especially if the home is left unattended for long periods of time.
But what if you already own a portable generator and want a safe and convenient way to be able to connect it to your home? The main concerns about hooking up a generator to power your home in the event of an outage or emergency are primarily as regards to safety.
What About “Backfeeding?”
Connecting your portable generator to an appliance outlet and running power backward through the electrical system, known as backfeeding, distributes unbalanced and inefficient electrical loads into your home, possibly damaging systems and appliances, puts an additional strain on your generator, and can be extremely dangerous, even life-threatening.
If the main breaker in your home is not properly shut off, backfeeding electricity will also transfer power to the utility lines outside your property and this could potentially electrocute and kill you, a family member, or an unsuspecting maintenance worker trying to restore power. This could even result in criminal prosecution. The short answer when considering whether or not to backfeed? Don’t.
The Portable Generator Home Solution: GenerLink
When installed correctly, there IS a safe and reliable way to connect a portable generator to your home in just minutes. We recommend and install GenerLink transfer switches for this kind of scenario. The GenerLink device is UL-listed and socket-mounted, installed behind your electric meter.
Instead of attempting a dangerous and potentially illegal backfeed, GenerLink allows you to quickly and easily deliver power directly to your breaker box. This eliminates the hassle of electrical cords running throughout your house. Additionally, units with Bluetooth capability can automatically notify you when utility power has been restored to your property, right on your smartphone! Best of all, it’s perfectly safe, completely legal, and meets the highest manufacturing standards.
With a potentially stormy winter season approaching, get in touch with us today to see if GenerLink is right for your home. If you have any questions about installation or use, we’re here to help you through the entire process!
